Think Progress / News Analysis
Published: Sunday 25 August 2013
Wouldn’t
it be nice if there was an issue that was hugely popular with the
public, fit perfectly into the progressive agenda, appealed to the white
working class, and split the Republican Party right in half? Sounds to
be good to be true, right? Actually, it’s hiding in plain sight: raising
the minimum wage.
Start
with overall public opinion. The public’s views on many policy issues
can be very complicated; there are nuances to the nuances, so to speak.
The polling on the minimum wage, however, is about as unnuanced as it
comes. People just think it’s the right thing to do and decades of
attempts by conservatives to convince the public otherwise have been an
abject failure. Take, for instance, this Pew Research poll from early 2013. By a thumping 71-26 margin, the public said it favored increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 an hour.
Moreover,
there was astonishingly strong support across demographic groups.
Blacks and Hispanics supported the proposal by 91-8 and 83-14,
respectively, and whites felt similarly by a
not-as-large-but-still-strong 64-33 margin. Those with family incomes
below $30,000 supported raising the minimum wage by 79-20, but so did
those with incomes above $75,000, who were also on board by a high
(65-32) margin:
Unsurprisingly,
Democrats and independents supported a higher minimum wage by,
respectively, 87-11 and 68-28. But here’s where it gets really
interesting: Republicans also supported a rate hike, albeit by a narrow
50-47 margin. So raising the minimum wage roughly slices the GOP down
the middle.
This
split in support has a very distinct class character. Working class
(non-college) Republicans supported the proposal by 58-40, while
college-educated Republicans opposed it by 60-34. Similarly, low income
Republicans (less than $30,000) supported raising the minimum wage by
68-31 while high income Republicans (over $75,000) opposed such a raise
by 57-40:
Of
course, even strenuous advocacy of raising the minimum wage will not
suddenly persuade a majority of white working class Republicans to
support progressive candidates. But even modest white working class
defections would go a long way, even — or perhaps especially — in red states.
No wonder Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is running for Mitch McConnell’s seat in Kentucky, is making a higher minimum wage a central part of her campaign.
In fact, the only really hard thing to understand here is why more
candidates with progressive views on the minimum wage aren’t following
Grimes’ lead. Let’s hope in the future they will.
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